Corset



(MOdGL) D. H. PANNING.

CORSET.

Patented July 26, 1 881.

Wiir 25.555.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID H. FANNINQ, of

' "UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID H. FANNING, OF WORCESTER, ASSIGNOB TO THEODORE G. BATES, OF NORTH BROOKFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CORSET.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,744, dated July 26, 1881.

' Application filed January 8, 1881. (ltIodeL) I Worcester, county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Corsets, of which the following description, in connection wit-h the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to corsets, and has for its object to stiffen the side and hip portions of the corset, and also, if desired, provide means for padding the hip.

In another application, oteven date herewith,

I have shown front, back, and side pieces ex tended the entire length from top to bottom of the corset, with a stifienedzone secured in the seams which unite the front'and back pieces to the side pieces, said zone overlying the said side pieces between their upper and lower edges; and in yet another application I have shown a transverse stifiened hip-band at the lower edge of the side sections; but these features are not herein broadly claimed.-

In this my present application I have shown at the lower ends of the side pieces, which are shortened, a stiffened strip, which, connected with the front and back of the corset, may or may not extend as far down as the lower ends of the front and back pieces, and outside the said hip-strip I employ a stiffened zone. When this zone is extended below the hip-strip, as in Fig. .1, the hip portion may readily be padded by inserting under the zone any usual or suitablepadding material. This hip-strip will preferably be composed of two or more layers of cloth or woven fabric stitched between the outerand inner sides of the material of the corset; but instead of such cloth stifi'ening for the hip-strip I may employ cork, leather, or a series of bones. If bones are employed in the hip-strip, they will extend at right angles to the bones in the stiffened zone, thus adding very materially to the stiffness of the corset at the hips.

Figure 1 represents, in side elevation, a suf ficient portion of a corset to illustrate my present invention, a part of the zone and part: of one of the side pieces being broken out to better illustrate the construction of the corset. Fig. 2 is a similar side view of a modification of my invention; Fig. 3,-a section of the hipv strip on the line a:, Fig. 2; and Fig. 4, a modificatiou.

The front piece, a,,and back piece, I), are of usual construction.

' Referring to'Fig. -1, the side pieces, 0 d, are shortened so that they do not extend as far down as the lower ends of thepieces a b, and along the lower ends of the said side pieces, 0 (1,1 have stitched a hip strip or section, 6, composed of two or more thicknesses of cloth or woven fabric placed between the pieces of cloth forming the outer and inner faces of the said section 0, the several pieces so assembled being stitched together and stiffened.

Instead of cloth for the stifl'ening material 6 for the section 0, 1 may employ cork or bones, or other well-known stiffening material.

The side pieces, 0 d, are shown as stifl'ened by 'bon'es h or stiffening-pieces extended throughout theirlen gth, the said stiflening-pieces being in pockets made by stitching the cloth enterin g into the parts ed, as represented by dotted lines.

The zone-piece fis stiffened by a vertical series of bones, l,'or stiffening-strips; or it may be in a diagonal series of bones or strips placed in suitable pockets made by stitching the said zone in parallel lines, and .its ends, at the right and left, are secured by stitches in the seams 2 3, which unite the parts or sections 1) d and 8c the parts a. c.

In Fig. 1 the of the stiffened zone f constitutes the lower edge of, and forms a continuation of, the bottom line of the corset.

' In a corset constructed as in Fig. 1 it is very convenient to insert between the zone f and the hip-strip and side pieces, 0 d, wedding or padding of any usual kind, to give more or less fullness to the hip.

9 Referring to Fig. 2, the zone f is extended somewhat higher upon the side of the corset, and the hip-strip e is made wider and extend 'ed substantially to the lower ends of the front and back pieces, a b.

A corset such as herein described is in practice found sufficiently stiff, and will not bend and break as readily as corsets such as are now commonly made.

When a hip strip or section, 6, is extended lower curved and bound edge to the lower end of the corset the stiffened zone may or may not extend as low down as the lower edge of the hip-strip. In Fig. 2 I have shown it extended only partially down across the hip-strip.

I do not broadly claim a corset in which a series of bones or stiffening-pieces at the hip are made to extend substantially at right angles across another series of bones or stiffenin g-strips, as I am aware that. has already been patented to 'l. C. Bates.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a partial section of the hip-strip e to indicate the independentlayers of cloth m or cork between the outer and inner woven faces of the corset.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modification, wherein, instead of the fibrous stiffening, as in Fig. 3, I employ bones or stitiening-strips n.

I do not claim a corset the body part of which contains bones or pocketsextended from the upper and from the lower ends of the corset toward the waist of the corset, overlapping and thus stifl'ening the main body of the corset at each overlapping portion, the layers of the fabric of which the said body is composed being stitched together, as shown in an application of T. P. Taylor, filed November 17, 1880.

I claim- 1. In a corset, the front and back pieces, a b, and the independent hip-strip e and side pieces,

0 01, connected together and combined with the stifiened zone connected therewith, as shown, and having its lower end extended below the side pieces and lapped over upon the stiffened hi pstrip to stiffen the latter by bones arranged transversely to the length of the hip-strip, substantially as specified.

2. The front and back pieces, a b, and the side pieces, 0 d, between them, combined with a stiffened zone, the lower end of which is extended below the lower ends of the side pieces, a d, there being a free or open space between the said side pieces and stiffened zone, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The front and back pieces, a b, the stiff- ,ened side pieces, 0 (1, between them, the stiffened hip-strip 0, extended across the lower ends of the side pieces and connected therewith and with the pieces a I), combined with an independent stifi'ened zone, also connected at its ends, as described, with the corset, to stiffen the same at and about its central portions and hips, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DAVID H. FANNING.

W'itnesses:

THEODORE U. BATES, BENJ. L. SAMPSON. 

